My finger is injured... Any advise/knowledge???

Well, my left middle finger is very swollen at the middle knuckle. It hurts a little bit but not that bad... It is very stiff and I can't do hard bouldering or sport climbing with it. It seems to get better then I re hurt it. It has been hurt sense May.

Is there any exercise's I can do for it? Anyone that has had this, how long does it take to heal, how do you heal it? Can I climb on it by taping?

Any info or personal experiences would be greatly appriaciated!

Thanks in advance!

It is the middle finger.

The middle finger at the middle joint.

The middle finger at the middle knuckle.

Mickey,

I have something very similar. I cannot completely make a fist, the joint appears swollen and the finger is somewhat misaligned. I will be seeing my doctor today. My recommendation would be to see a doctor, versus an Internet diagnosis.

Frank

How did you hurt it?

Go to a doctor.

How old are you? You look like you are in your teens. In which case, there is a good chance you fractured your growth plate. Again, you should go see a doctor.

Ha That looks familiar.

I bet you climb on plastic a fair amount.

Any time you grab a hold and that middle knuckle is bent 90 degrees and 90 degrees .... at both joints you risk doing that to the poor didget.

Stay away from hard cranking, give it some time.

I like to stick my hand in ice water and keep it in for a long time.... 30 min if you can stand it.

After a few weeks, the swelling should go down and it will start to heal some.

Tape it when you climb and stay away from cranking on any hold that puts your middle knuckle up hi. ..... that is the move that really wrecks your middle knuckle.

In my experience this sort of overuse injury will only recover if you take some time off of the hard cranking. ..... like 12-18 weeks.

Take up crack climbing, stay away from tiny plastic holds..... you will be able to crank out the moves when you need to, just don't over do the training.

Good luck

I injured the second joint of my middle finger last fall. The joint just separately slightly; no tearing or bad pain, it just felt weird and really weak. But in retrospect, before I injured it, that joint felt stiff and swollen after climbing. I attributed it to age, since I'm 50, and overuse, since I've been climbing since 13. I assume now that it was my body telling me that joint had issues, which I ignored.

What I likely had was an A2 pulley tear or injured the collateral ligaments. Symptoms/treatment are supposedly the same. The only thing that really worked was rest, though I think massaging the A2 at the base of the finger helped as well. It's taken about 9 or 10 months before I'm finally getting back to doing things, though taping heavily and not pushing it. Stay away from crimps.

If I had to do it again, I would have gone to the doctor right away. While it seems to have gotten better on it's own, it's still not 100% and there could have been some treatment, therapeutic or surgical, that I could have gotten much sooner that might have been much more effective.

Get it checked it. Rest. Focus on staying healthy in other ways: cardio, working your core, etc. When it's better, you'll make really psyched to hit the rock.

Thanks a lot guys! I have been doing the ice water thing. And not climbing on it at all!!

Hey frank,
What did the doctor say??

My finger is looking/feeling the same as when I posted this post...

Thanks again!

Very nice... i has a series of hand xrays a few months ago and they said "make a baseball grip " well that did not go well....the fingers didn't curl very well at all.

if it's chronic, only NO climbing will help along with ice and beer.

Mickey Sensenbach wrote:Thanks a lot guys! I have been doing the ice water thing. And not climbing on it at all!! Hey frank, What did the doctor say?? My finger is looking/feeling the same as when I posted this post... Thanks again!

Mickey,

The first time I saw him about it, months ago, he said he thought it was a ligament injury. And I have continued to use it, without curtailing my climbing or other activities (not good). This time, he actually said he didn't know (he's an internist, not an ortho or hand expert).

So if I wanted to really address it, I would find an hand orthopedist. I occasionally "buddy tape" it when I want to make sure it isn't torqued too hard to the side, which is painful.

Do you have medical insurance? I'd guess you do, so why not see an orthopedist?

That looks gnarly. Go to the doctor.

If you are really worried, go to the doctor.

Otherwise, stop climbing (and doing anything else that stresses it) for 2-3 weeks and monitor it. It's likely that if isn't something terrible, you will see some improvement. If there is no improvement, go see a doctor. If it does improve, do not jump back into climbing. Do some stretching and gently squeeze a tennis ball or towel to start building up strength. If it hurts bad, back off. Make sure to stretch the tendon out as it will shrink with little use. Only when you have no pain and good mobility, start gently climbing again. The whole thing may take anywhere from 4-10 weeks.

Climbing on injured finger like that will likely just prolong the healing process.

Jim

jim.dangle wrote:If you are really worried, go to the doctor. Otherwise, stop climbing (and doing anything else that stresses it) for 2-3 weeks and monitor it. It's likely that if isn't something terrible, you will see some improvement. If there is no improvement, go see a doctor. If it does improve, do not jump back into climbing. Do some stretching and gently squeeze a tennis ball or towel to start building up strength. If it hurts bad, back off. Make sure to stretch the tendon out as it will shrink with little use. Only when you have no pain and good mobility, start gently climbing again. The whole thing may take anywhere from 4-10 weeks. Climbing on injured finger like that will likely just prolong the healing process. Jim

Summary = common sense

I (a physician) would make the above more specific: Go see a board certified hand surgeon who is used to working with people who are active. Otherwise you are just going to get, "It hurts when you climb? So then don't climb. Ever. Again."

Taking some time off from climbing while you're getting this figured out is also very good advice. If it's a tendonitis or a ruptured tendon (or a growth plate injury as someone mentioned upthread) it's not going to heal in a week or two regardless of what the diagnosis ends up being.

There's a huge amount of other productive training you could be doing while not stressing your finger, no reason to completely inactivate yourself...

For real though Mickey...how old are you. A growth plate injury needs to be dealt with or you could be looking at a permanent loss of function in the future.

An X-ray would be necessary to determine the type of fracture (if at all). If you catch it before it gets bad, a few weeks in a splint followed by some rehab will have you good as new in a few months. Best not to push through injuries while you are young, as it can cause more problems down the road.

Thanks,

I am 17 years old... It cant be a fracture, It was not from a single use or move, I injured it over time, I am sure is is some sort of tendon/soft tissue injury.

Thanks for ALL the advise, very helpful, I am going to see a docter when I go back to school in a few weeks... I hope the swelling goes down soon, And my current plan is to become an aid climbing addict for the next year! Try and hone in my skills and work on that rather then go to the local bouldering gym everyday after school and climb hard overhanging crimper non sense!

Growth plate fractures generally do not have an acute onset, but rather develop as a result of chronic stress to the joint. I would not rule it out 15-17 is generally the male growth peak and is the time when these types of fractures are most prevalent.

I'm not saying you definitely have a fracture, but given the circumstances, an x-ray seems like an easy choice. Especially if you have (parents) insurance. If not, that makes it a harder choice.

EDIT: good luck with the aid "climbing"... joking, but not joking.

i think i have the same injury, accept for i was cranking on it day in and day out last winter about 2-4 hours a day without rest on plastic holds. I would always feel pain on my pip joint of the middle and ring fingers on both hand but never really paid attention. A few days after my birthday last december i realized i couldnt straighten out my fingers, i also couldnt make a fist (which sucks because im a boxer and cant even make a fist). I took climbing a little easier, stop full crimp completely and only use open crimp, and the pain has gotten better. I also went to the doctor last month and he said that my joints is swolen due to over usage but no fracture. Currently doing PT twice a week and basically the PT is just sitting there stressing out my fingers. Its like a painful massage, but i am on the road to recovery, i can sense it.
So if you have the same thing, my advice is to just take it easy and stress out your fingers, maybe some ice bucket will do, but it takes time.